In between Ruins
by Tarisch
Summary: After the true Endwar started War is stuck on Earth and gets ambushed by a demonic Army, surviving the encounter wounded and in bad shape he decides to hide in a nearby human building. Only to notice that there might be not just demons after him. But for once he might find reason to sheath Chaoseater, at last for a little while. (3 Part Short Story, rated T because of Violence)
1. Chapter 1

Author Note: _Wanted to write this for a long while, it is probably going to have a lot more action than I intended thought. Brought in some ideas of my own that I_

 _would find interesting to see in a further Darksiders installment in some way or form._

 _Next chapter should follow soon, and I hope to finish it in a matter of two weeks or so, also damn, I can't find a fitting Genre for this._

 _No direct relation to "The Horsman and the Archangel" (even thought it would be nice if someone wanted to check that one out and give me some honest feedback on_

 _it since I might want to rewrite it someday)_

 _Reviews are a good way to see that somebody bothered to read this and didn't just miss click, double if they give good feedback and critique._

 _I might change the rating to a higher one based on feedback or if I feel it needs to be, depending on how the story unfolds._

 _Either way, enjoy._

* * *

Blood was rushing through his veins and his heart danced in delight.

War was surrounded by the meager rest of a hellish war band that had dared to ambush him.

They had come close indeed and had inflicted many wounds, but nothing the horseman couldn't take.

Demons growled and cursed at him as they surrounded him with hateful eyes.

This was nothing more than a last desperate attempt on their part, it would soon be over.

War sidestepped an oncoming axe and slew the demon with and upwards strike from Chaoseater before blocking a hit with his sword and wrecking another enemy

with his iron fist.

Only one of the few higher ranking demons in full armor was left and jumped at him with a roar and struck him with his burning sword.

War blocked the first strike, killed two lower demons within the same movement and tried to deflect another stabbing attack from the sword with his iron fist.

He was only slightly surprised when he miscalculated and the sword scratched over the metal on the back of his artificial hand and cut into the upper arm behind it.

Ignoring the pain with a hiss he changed his target from the clean strike at his enemy he had planned to leaping backwards and going back into the defensive.

The demon followed up with a roar and War barely had time to react as his enemy lunged at him.

He dogged the hit and immediately had to cut down two more demons that tried to get behind his back, turning around just in time to evade the armored demon one

more time.

This time however he felt the strain of the countless battles he had fought in the days and hours before.

Taking care of the first part of the demonic army had done the rest, and even thought he was one of the most powerful beings in creation with the seventh seal

broken and his powers increased, he was still only one Horseman.

The hit came faster than he expected and cut deep into his left side before the demon warrior skillfully turned his blade around and stabbed at Wars torso.

The Nephilim was still reeling from the unexpected hit and didn't manage to get up his defenses in time.

He only managed to move slightly out of the way so that the burning blade priced his right shoulder instead of his full body.

He grunted as he registered the pain somewhere in the back of his head before he moved forward into the blade itself and in reach of the hellish warrior himself.

The demons face changed form a confident grin to sudden realization as War threw his iron fist forward at his skull.

Once the demon was lying dead on the ground in front of him and with the sword still stuck inside his shoulder another group of demons jumped at him to try and

avenge their fallen master.

War rammed Chaoseater into the ground and a circle of blades erupted out of the earth around him, killing four of them mid jump.

Then he turned around and moved Chaoseater with him.

The ancient sword flashed thought the air and drew the dead bodies of five more demons in blood.

Only a few more demons where standing around him at a safe distance.

Having lost all of their leaders in the bloody fight that had went for more than an entire hour and having seen what the Horseman was capable of firsthand, none of

them were very eager to meet the same fate as all of their kin had before them.

Knowing all too well what was happening inside their heads War rammed Chaoseater into the ground and began to pull the still burning sword out of his shoulder.

He wasn't even halve way done when the first hell spawns began to run for their lives, with the rest of them close behind on their tail when they saw that even that

wound wasn't going to slow the Horseman down.

Once they had all fled War finally managed to pull the slowly extinguishing sword out entirely and dropped it on the floor.

The pain began to numb as his live force did its work and started to close the wounds, although much slower than he was used to.

He wasn't even surprised when a small hole in his shoulder remained and his side didn't fully close.

The battle had demanded more of his live force and stamina than he had anticipated.

He put Chaoseater on his back and stepped over the dead demon bodies that were about to disintegrate before he raised a hand and called upon Ruin.

When the fiery black steed emerged from the ground it exhaled in protest at the sight of his mangled rider and shook its head in disappointment.

War simply shrugged. "Look around you, there is your explanation."

When he mounted Ruin the horse could see a field of dead demons around them and weapons and armor of the ones that had already burned away.

The phantom steed trotted slowly forward as it tried to spare his rider from pain of his wounds.

They passed by the husks of several demonic war machines that humans would have described as tanks if they had encountered them.

Only that the cobbled together demonic steam machines ran mostly on what humans would probably call magic and where big enough to count as two of the human

war machines.

The demons had tried to use them against him as artillery support, but War had broken thought their lines and had dismantled most of them with the burning arms of

his Chaos form as he eliminated demons by the dozens with every strike and took the fire of their guns, that could otherwise level buildings, with stride.

He had torn the rest of them apart with his bare hands and had even killed a few demons by smashing them over the head with their own tank cannon with the

canopy attached.

Sure enough Strife would have found it hilarious.

War had found it nothing more than practical.

In the blur of fighting it had been difficult to examine the battlefield, but now that they were passing trough it at a much more somber pace War could see clearly what

he had only skimmed over before.

There were certainly more than three demolished and burned angelic counter versions of the demonic ones on the far side of the battlefield.

They were hardly recognizable but all the sings where there, most obviously the fact they were much more elegant and that they lacked tracks of any kind, seeing how

heaven had standardized and perfected their war machines to hover above ground and fly alongside them in the air by default.

Hell meanwhile didn't bother with their much cheaper knockoffs where mostly only one in every dozen was able to gain flight.

That was if it didn't break down or straight up exploded to begin with.

He also found a downed one man angelic fighter craft in the, comparatively, small form similar to an arrow that had crashed into a nearby building.

The signs of damage where rather new, which probably meant that the demons that had ambushed him had attacked and decimated a angelic battle group before

they had sprung their 'trap' on him.

It was difficult to determine how big the battle had been, but to Wars keen eye it seemed the like the fight had been severe.

He didn't remember turning two building fronts into ruin and collapsing another.

Although here on earth it was difficult to determine what counted as ruins, seeing like basically all of it was in constant deterioration and decay.

War could hear the sound of giant flapping wings far above them and saw the silhouette of a smoke spitting hellish ship hovering far above in the clouds.

Going by the number of gun platforms and frame he could make out that it couldn't be more than a scouting ship, even thought that was already more than enough to be alert.

Flying demons where passing by remaining skyscrapers and trough the streets as if they were searching for prey, probably the rider himself.

He couldn't risk another fight, any other wound would probably not manage to heal at all, and if they would send a few more of their heavy hitters after him he would

certainly be in trouble.

Even he could be killed with enough attrition, just like anyone else in creation.

And with the blessings of the council gone there was no certainty that he was going to be brought back this time.

On the other hand, with his powers so low there was nearly no need for him to try and hide his own aura since it got lost in all the atmospheric noise of magic and

destruction on earth, especially in this place.

More than one hundred years ago the last members of humanity had fought and died in those very streets.

Well, they had mostly just died to be fair.

Ruin was even more careful to remain as slow as possible as the demons where circling over them and with the demonic ship hovering above them.

Just as they had crossed into another block of buildings and streets the first gun of the scout ship opened fire and pulverized several buildings behind them with a

single shot.

More guns opened fire and incinerated several buildings after another.

War could feel the heat waves and pressure the bombardment was creating in this atmosphere but didn't make the mistake to pressure Ruin on and give their position

away with a sudden gallop.

With the destruction behind him he mused that the humans would have probably found it terrifying that only one single scout ship was enough to lay waste to one of

their biggest cities in a short amount of time.

A sudden guttural outcry echoed through the streets and Ruin flattened his ears in recognition.

War patted his neck and nodded.

"I know it as well."

Just like his horse the rider had recognized the outcry that had come from the demonic entity that possessed the ship above them.

It had sounded like a cry of rage and joy, probably the being basking in the destruction its guns where creating.

But knowing demons and how volatile and unreliably their machines where it probably also meant that something had at last overheated if it wasn't standing in flames

already.

Being on board of a ship that belonged to a lower demon ruler always meant that you had to be cautious what where you going to touch.

Obviously the higher lords would try to overhaul their war machines more regularly to pleas the prince of lies and gather their own strength.

But demonic machines remained much more unreliable than their angelic counterparts.

Which was to be expected if ones machines where feed with the energy of whipped and tortured souls, while the other side cared for their magical source in a much

more reliable way.

On the other side Hell threw out its machines much faster than Heaven did, which granted them much higher numbers.

A fact that also reflected how demons had a much higher base number before one counted all the mercenaries and lost races that heaven would dismiss on principle.

But whatever the cause of the demonic scream was, in the end the bombardment didn't continue, instead it began to rain.

Heavy drops landed on his armor and evaporated with a hiss as they didn't find anything to bite into.

The way it hissed and how it tried to eat at Wars already sturdy cloth made him realize right away that this was no natural rain, even before Ruin decided that it was

best to use his phantom powers and turn into literal cheese whenever a drop of the poisonous water tried to land on him.

Every time a drop would have made contact the horse used its power to make itself pervious to not even get in contact with the substance.

A human would have probably died from direct contact alone while it was pretty much only a inconvenience for battle ready armored angles but ironically a painful

experience for less armored demons and death over a prolonged time.

Still, War knew that he couldn't afford the risk to get a single drop of this acid rain on his skin and only rode on for a little while longer to reach a downtrodden shadow

of a human hotel.

He dismounted Ruin and with a quick gesture the horse disappeared carefully into the ground.

War tried to open the door and was less than surprised when he suddenly had the entire thing in his hands.

War stepped inside, turned around and put the door back where it belonged.


	2. Chapter 2

The wooden stairs creaked under the heavy weight of Wars boots as he made his way upwards.

The building seemed like it had once been a Hotel or something similar as many same looking rooms occupied with rundown beds and rotten cupboards filled the sides

of the floor when he decided that he had climbed high enough.

Broken doors and shattered windows where widespread as he walked through the hallway.

When he passed a bigger intact window in front of a piano conquered by dust he risked a look outside and could still make our the demonic ship and its hunting dog's

searching the streets for him while the poisonous rain it had created came down even stronger.

In the shape he currently was in it was probably best to wait this one out.

The sun had set a few hours before, come morning his powers and life-force should have regenerated well enough and if he was lucky his hunters would have given

up their search for him and make it easier for him to make a clean escape and get back to his siblings.

He turned from the window and looked at the open instrument beside him.

Not far of a human skeleton sat on chair that looked like it had once belonged in front of the very same piano.

The hands of the corps sat peacefully on its knees and its eye sockets looked at the ceiling, it seemed like the human's death had been neither sudden nor brutal.

War stepped over in front of the instrument and swept parts of dust aside with his gauntlet.

There were no notes on the rack or anything, but in a strange moment of curiosity War carefully pushed one of the keys.

The sound that came out was dull but still had some of the original tone as far as the Warrior could tell.

He never had been one to learn many instruments, but then again, if one lived for so many millennia's to the point that it was difficult to keep count, one couldn't help

but pick up the one or other talent.

Still, the only reason why he even knew the basics of a Piano was because of the one Bet Strife had made and Fury had roped him into it in an attempt to prove their

brother wrong.

They had never appointed a true winner to that bet, but then again one could have said that all went according to Strife's plan either way.

And it was not like his plans _always_ ended in disaster.

War sighed and moved his pained shoulder slightly before he pushed another note.

The tone rang out in the empty building and when his lips tugged slightly upwards upon remembering how the bet had ended.

He decided to take the risk and pushed five more notes in quick succession.

Beside the dullness of the sound the melody remained intact and soon lost itself in the corridors once more.

Just when he straightened up he noticed that something had changed.

Ever since he had set foot into this building he had felt that something was off.

But the previous battle had left him tiered and exhausted, his powers mostly vanished and himself just a tad bit off guard.

But now he felt that the danger had been closer than he had anticipated.

He barely managed to turn around, draw Chaoseater, and sidestep the first blue energy blade that zoomed towards him and only missed by a few fractions of an inch.

Instead the piano was cut in two with such sharpness that it didn't even bother to fall apart.

The next energy attack was blocked by Wars iron fist as he moved into the corridor and into the way of his attacker.

The darkness of the hallway did not allow for a very good view, but he already felt familiarity with the attacks and especially with the determinedness his foe

approached.

Three more energy blade attacks flew towards him in quick succession and with each attack his enemy came closer.

Each new attack came from a new direction, trying to find an opening in his defensive while he remained static in the middle of the corridor.

As much as it hurt his pride, he had good reason to play this one battle safe.

With five energy blades came the last attack, Chaoseater blocked the first two and deflected a third, while his iron fist caught one aimed at his shoulder and he moved

his right leg out of the way of the last.

The instant after his attacker jumped forward with an overhead attack.

Having his leg moved his stance was no longer properly balanced and he decided to take a calculated step back as her sword crashed down in blue energy and cut

through the floor.

Another blade might have gotten stuck, but hers was made by the best smiths in the White City, it simply cut trough wood and concrete all the same.

With the smallest of nods he acknowledged her existence as Uriel stepped into the light and began to assess the enemy before her.

In the quick moment she took he did the same.

Most prominently she was missing the golden artificial wings on her back, walking on her own feet instead of using them to float and maneuver.

Understandable, after all, the rooms of the hotel were small and her wings and flight would have only hindered her if she had tried to make use of it here.

Just when he was about to notice that something else was different about the angel she struck like a wolf that smelled blood.

And he knew, even if she was lacking her pack, the mother wolf was no one to be taken lightly.

He grabbed Chaoseater in the middle with his iron hand to shorten his reach in the tight corridor and increase his reaction time by a few nuances before he moved the

blunt side of his sword into the way of her stabbing attack like a second option shield.

She had known that her attack would be thwarted and stepped back in an instant, only to strike again at his left leg, which was defended in the same way, before she

shot a blue energy swing aimed at his head up close and slashed at his right tight.

He defended himself from the first attack as well, but as he moved just a slight bit too much to avoid the second one Uriel tried to get past his defenses on his left.

Her sword was reached dangerously close to his torso as his Iron fist swiftly reached out and grabbed her sword arm and twisted it.

In response she simply threw her weapon out of her hand into her other on and thrust it with one motion forward towards his face.

She was certainly determined to take of his head this time.

War removed his grip from Chaoseater in an instant and leaned backwards, moving his head out of the way of her strike before he grabbed her tight with his free

hand and threw her over his shoulder and into the piano.

One part was completely smashed under the force of the impact, but the other just toppled to the side in defeat.

Uriel however jumped straight up and threw a new energy blade at him before jumping forward and striking down with her sword.

He deflected her energy with his iron fist and swiftly grabbed Chaoseater before jumping back as the heavenly sword came down and cut through the floor once more.

For a few moments she drove him a few meters back with a combination of energy and sword attacks, into the direction she herself had came from.

But it didn't take long for the Warrior to regain his composure and the hasty withdraw turned into a calculated retread, becoming slower by the moment before it

nearly stopped.

Uriel knew what was happening, her eyes betrayed her to him when they became more frequent in their search for an opening in his defenses.

He could make out just a hint of tiredness and panic in those golden eyes just when her unwavering determination slipped from her face in one quick moment of

realization.

But just nearly when her push came to a standstill her eyes lit up and she threw another series of attacks at him before hoping to use a quick breach in his defenses

to jump past him in a small opening on his left side.

She grazed the hotel wall while doing so and ripped it open, falling into a dust of rubble as she landed behind him, rolled herself to the side and tried to get up.

Chaoseaters wide vertical backwards swing missed her only by a couple of centimeters as she was halfway up before the sword crashed into the opposite wall.

War ripped his weapon out of the wall, now to his right, as Uriel took the chance and tried to attack him one-handed once more up close.

But her attack to his chest was methodically blocked by his artificial iron fist before he tried to use it to bash her sword out of the way and open her up for a strike with

Chaoseater.

But much to his surprise she kept control over her sword by closing her left gauntlet around it as well and instead moved to the side into the current blind spot of his

sword.

As Chaoseater crashed down without finding his mark she tried to stab at his head once more only to find his artificial hand in her way just like before.

So she changed sword hands once more, she lost the right grip but still pushed against him with her left, only to strike at his chest with her fist.

Many lower races believe that demons in general are physically far stronger than angels, and seeing some demons, one could certainly understand where this idea

came from.

But on the other side Angels were certainly not lacking as far behind as some might think.

Her first fist punch was aimed at his upper chest and with a combined effect of her strength and her position she managed to make him stagger backwards just

enough for a follow up strike.

Something that could be recognized as quite a feat, even if War was in a weakened state.

Her second punch however struck directly at the still open wound at his side and forced him to move backwards and sideways to face her completely.

He barely had time to release a pained grunt as Uriel immediately lunged forward and crashed into him with force.

They broke through the wall that had already been weakened by Chaoseater strike before.

He could feel his wounds all over again as he landed in debris and with her on top of him.

Despite the chaos both combatants immediately recognized their proximity and increased their efforts to speed up the others demise.

Uriel tried to move up her sword to strike again, but War was faster.

He grabbed her left hand and twisted it with his artificial limb while this way holding her sword in place as well.

She hissed at the pain as he forced her of him, pinned her down and readied his gauntlet to strike at her face, Chaoseater lying on the ground beside him.

But just as he was about to strike she threw up her right arm at his side and send a high amount of saved up lightning energy trough his body.

He grunted at the pain and reeled backwards, only barely managing to get up.

She caught her sword and got up as fast as she could, despite the protest of her legs.

Just when she was certain that the lighting energy was still cursing trough his body as he was leaning on the opposite and still intact wall he proved that that was not

going to stop him.

His Iron fist first blocked her sudden sword attack then simply bashed it aside before he slapped her across the face with his gauntlet followed up by a head on hit

against her torso with his artificial arm.

Hit by a force like that she was thrown back by a couple of meters, and landed painfully on the floor.

War still felt the lighting energy crackling trough his body as he picked up Chaoseater while Uriel got to her feet and summoned her sword to her hand.

He moved his head hoping to lose the irritating pain as Uriel moved into fighting position, still coughing from the hit she had taken and ignoring the fact that his strike

at her face had left bloody wounds on it that remained wide open.

War nodded, so there was certainty.

They both were in similar bad shape as it seemed.

He walked towards her, and swung his sword without breaking stride.

This time it was Uriel who was forced to retreat, and while War had managed to stop her own advance before, it became clear that this was not an option for her.

She tried to evade his strikes and attacked whenever she thought to see an opening, but soon she was mostly trying to keep pace with the Warrior as he advanced

ever faster.

They still moved into the direction Uriel had made her entrance from, and with each moment they came closer to the dead end of the corridor her attacks became more d

aring and dangerous.

He took a cut to the throat and another to the leg when she attacked even more desperate.

At first he thought it was because she knew that the dead end would mean her end as well, seeing how he had her effectively cornered.

But he knew she was a fighter, and her panicked face was not something that suited either of them.

Regardless she looked backwards twice, and seemingly not at the wall itself or the closed door, and more at what was behind it.

With her back getting closer to the wall her only option was to find a hole in his defense otherwise she was trapped and her fate sealed.

Knowing this with certainty she tried one last time with a forwards jump, aiming her sword at his head, only for him to doge to the side and crash full body into her

jump.

He had only waited for her last attack and rammed his shoulder into her abdomen as she was in the air, grabbing her and charging into the wall behind them.

The human building gave in under the weight of the two supernatural fighters as both crashed into the next room.

Uriel was flung forward and War lost his balance.

This time it took them several seconds to get up on their knees, Uriel calling her weapon into her hands from the hallway and War grabbing Chaoseater from the ground.

Uriel coughed and spat blood onto the floor as War used his weapon to assist him in getting up on his knees.

The two swordfighters sat on the ground several meters apart from each other, eyeing up their opponent.

It had been difficult to determine in the sparse lightning of the hallway, but now closer to a ray of windows and the now shining moonlight War could see that Uriels

Armor was damaged in several places.

Her right arm was bandaged and with the pressure of the fight the tiredness in her eyes had grown from a glint to spreading across her face.

The mask of determination was slightly cracking, pain and even fear distorted her features as her eyes shot from War to the room around them.

War on the other hand could feel his wounds all over as he followed her glances.

He had thought it would be something similar.

Three heavenly bodies where laying in the room, two in the big bed at the far side of the room and another on a generous sized couch close to them.

Only two of them still had the glint of life in their auras while the one of the third on the couch had already faded.

War nodded towards them.

"Your soldiers?" he asked, the strain of the fight letting his voice sound even gruffer than usual.

Uriel nodded in affirmation.

"Might have simply missed you if it hadn't been for them." She acknowledged, her eyes pricing him with anger.

Without a doubt she saw nothing more than a thread to her men in his question.

Who could blame her? Any other demon that attacked her would have followed the same line of thought.

Only that he wasn't a demon.

"We were here because of you, got a tip that you would use a portal to this place on earth. It seems like the demons got a similar one since they were here before us,

and with a larger force than our three hundred."

Uriel explained bitterly.

"I noticed the remains of you're fallen on the battlefield. It looked like a harsh fight for all sides." War acknowledged.

"They set a trap for us and we nearly walked right into it.

By the time we figured just how much ordnance they were brining against us I had already lost nearly a quarter of my men.

I still managed to get most of the others out of here.

Regardless we gave them on hell of a fight."

Uriel said, seemingly stalling for time to find her breath.

"So, those three here are the ones who didn't make it in time with the others?" War asked.

Uriel only nodded grimly.

"One of them is dead, and the other two are in bad shape as well." He stated truthfully.

Uriel hissed in pain as she stood up, gripping her sword tightly.

"Well, if you would do me the favor and die already I could go back to caring for them again." She pointed out bitterly.

"I won't." he replied and stood up as well.

"I figured as much." She quipped and readied her weapon.

"But I could help you."

Her sword halted.

"What?" she asked perplex.

"Your soldiers are in a bad shape. And if I take you out, they will have virtually no chance of staying alive before help arrives." He pointed out the obvious.

"I am here under orders from the heavenly council, to bring you in or kill you. The charred council demands it, and I know you won't accept the first option and won't

present me your neck for the second.

You have no way of helping me that doesn't include throwing your live away.

And why in hell would you care about what happens to my men?"

She priced him with an angry glare, but also unsure about what to make of his offer.

Like a mother wolf that had been driven back and was now trying to protect her pack her hostility had only increased.

Despite that he could see in her eyes that she feared to fail, to die.

Not because she wasn't ready, but because it would mean the two last soldiers that had been placed under her command would die as well once she did.

"I think I know how to help you to get your soldiers into stable condition.

I have taken care of fallen warriors before and sometimes a second pair of hands can be in your favor."

War offered a way out with only the smallest pause of hesitation.

"I know how to cure the wounded as well, I have already tried!" Uriel hissed still defensive in response.

But she knew that he was right, even if she had tried almost everything she was able to with her limited resources, with the help of a second she might be able to do

more than one being alone was able to.

Her next question was more calm and only a single word.

"Why?"

For a moment it seemed like War wouldn't react and for a matter of seconds his eyes looked past her.

"I know what it means to lose your brothers in arms as well." He simply pointed out.

For a moment the warrior and the soldier locked eyes and in a moment of understanding Uriel dropped her sword and walked over to the two angels that were still

alive.

War left Chaoseater in the ground and did the same without hesitation.

* * *

 _Author Note: Sorry for the long delay, was actually hoping to update this sooner. I am not so sure how I feel about this one either. Still need to write about "Human Realm" as well but I try to make this one priority right now to get something to an end. One chapter missing. Hope you enjoyed this either way._


	3. Chapter 3

War finished cutting trough the flesh of the female angel and separated the entire leg from the torso with the angelic short sword in his hands and put

the bleeding

body part aside before he reached out towards the very little power he had left inside him.

Even thought his Life-force had almost completely vanished, a glint of his fighting powers still remained.

He focused for a moment and with a sudden whiz his artificial arm set itself on fire.

On the other side of the bed Uriel eyed the Horseman up and down as he focused the heat into the sword he had taken from one of the wounded on the bed in front

of them.

After only a few moments the blade itself was heated up enough and War leaned over the angelic soldier once more.

With a hiss the blade burned into the flesh and stopped the bleeding that would have otherwise put the life of the angel even more at risk than it already was.

War was making sure that the wound was completely scorched of as Uriel lifted her hand from the forehead of their patient and began focusing energy of her own.

She didn't waste time trying to tell him what was wrong so he put a hand on the wounded soldiers' chest and checked himself.

The female's heartbeat was irregular and frantic.

No wonder, her life-force had spent much of its energy trying to keep the infestation form the poisoned bullet inside her leg at bay, and even thought she had been in

a dead faint, her body must have felt the loss of her leg strongly.

Uriels lightning energy was calculated and precise.

He had seen this kind of energy's force send lesser demons to the ground as it ripped them apart from the inside out, but right here and now the shocks were just

enough to bring the heart of the solider back into regular motion after only a few tries.

Uriel let out a sigh of relief and reached over to War to help him bandage the wound correctly.

Just like before neither of them spoke hardly a word.

They could easily recognize that they both had been in similar circumstances before.

After most battle there were other warriors and soldiers wounded and dying on the ground and the healers still far away and trying to keep others alive on the other

side of the battlefield.

This only left the ones still standing to provide first aid. Warriors and Soldiers like them.

And there had been more battles like those than either of them could count.

In a direct comparison War might have been considered ancient in comparison to Uriel, but she had been alive and fighting for uncounted millennia's as well, and there

was nothing he could have taught her in this situation.

So they had managed with fewer words than one might expect.

Uriel had briefly explained what wounds she had found on her comrades and checked of what she had already tried and what she thought might work if they had the

tools for it.

And when War explained that he might be able to heat up the angelic sidearm they had already won half the battle.

Many of the wounds of their first patient had already been closed by Uriels now spent healing powers, but still too many of them had remained open and the bandages

she had applied were mostly soaked in blood.

With Uriels help War had burned out any hellish infection and closed up the wounds of the soldier well enough before they had hurried on to the second.

Now that they were done this angel was missing her leg, but her heartbeat was steady and strong again.

War took the severed leg, burned the other end as well to stop the blood from spilling on the floor and put it into a corner while ignoring the festering coal like

substance on the wound itself.

"You should make sure you take her stump back to the white city." He noted, finally breaking the busy silence for a moment.

"If heavens healers are still as good as I remember them they will have no trouble to regrow a simple leg."

Uriel finished up her part of the work and looked up at him, only shaking her head slightly.

"Since the seventh seal broke and the Endwar truly started many of our healers were send to the frontlines, and those who stayed behind have their hands full with

the other wounded that are brought back every hour." She sighed heavily.

"And even if that aspect weren't a problem, we need as many good soldiers back in the field as fast as possible. The higher ups won't invest into a month long

operation just to have one soldiers leg back if they can just as well use a far more practicable prosthetic in much shorter time.

Something like your own arm, just less…"

Uriel pointed at Wars giant artificial hand but reconsidered pushing the point any further.

"Less ugly you mean." He finished her sentence for her.

The Angel only nodded curtly before switching her attention back at their first patient again and making sure that his bandages were all in the right place.

"It's more like a tool, nothing more." War said as he moved his artificial arm in front of himself.

"Like a hammer or a weapon, it does nothing more than fulfil its purpose, and that it does very well."

Uriel looked up from her work and caught a quiet sober expression on the horseman's face as he examined his own hand of steel and iron.

It looked like a product of war and fear itself, a giant metallic hand with glowing runes and enchantments on it that screamed strength and power at everyone that

opposed its wielder.

" _It's more like a tool, nothing more."_ something about the tone he had said that with made her think.

Whatever he had tried to say, he didn't dwell on it.

"Either way, your soldier can be lucky that she managed to survive the poison from the bullet. I have seen similar cases in which the army's of hell packed their

munitions so full with life eating energy that the poison spread like wildfire and their victims died in a matter of a few minutes."

Uriel nodded in acknowledgement.

"I have seen those kinds of wounds as well."

She pushed away the thought of how one of her own soldiers had died similarly in her arms in the ruins of another human city.

War noticed how her gaze wandered into the past for a quick moment but didn't say a word.

She was not the only one who remembered the dead.

He walked over to the last of the angels on the couch, his aura and any life sign gone a while ago, just like his soul.

Meanwhile Uriel was still checking thoroughly on her wounded soldiers in a way that War had seen many times before as well.

Sometimes it was easier to bury yourself in any work that was within reach than to accept that there was nothing more left to do than keep your hands still and wait

for the best.

After all, a free and wandering mind could be its own prison.

War stepped closer to the couch and examined the dead angelic body.

The males armor had been shot up in several places and was badly damaged all over.

Which was, as far as War could tell, the reason why his body and armor hadn't dissolved on its own yet.

After all, Heaven tried to avoid leaving the body's of their fallen back on the field if they could avoid it.

Everyone knew what demons were capable of, nailing the fallen of their enemies to their war machines was one of their simpler sports.

And War remembered all too well what mockeries his own race had build out fallen and captured enemies.

The Archangels of old had fought entire new battles over the duty to bury or burn their own fallen.

And even today few were foolish enough to fiddle with an angelic corps or even try and put a living angel in chains.

"Who was that soldier?" War asked as he nodded at the corps below him.

Uriel looked up with weary eyes. After a short moment of thought she stepped away from the patients and towards the couch.

"Captain Saliel from the thirteenth Alpha Squadron." Uriel said.

"He fought with me on Earth during the hundred years of exile."

She nodded at his corps.

"He is still holding his shield." She pointed out.

War took a second look and made out that what he had thought to be a torn armour part in the dead angels grip was in fact the handle of a shield.

A shield that had been blasted to pieces, if the not even hand sized remains of it where to give any indication.

"He and his squadron stayed behind to give the rest of us a clean escape when I ordered the retreat. Things didn't go one hundred percent smoothly and I was

stranded with him and the last of his rearguard.

So we simply decided to flee, he carried on of the wounded and not long after I had to lift a second one myself when they gained on us.

We split our group into several smaller ones and we two managed to break away, but they still followed the others so we put down our wounded and tried to get their

attention to force the demons further apart and give his men a chance.

It worked well for me as I managed to mislead a smaller group of them and take them out shortly afterwards.

But when I turned around and came to his aid he was fighting against one of the demonic war machines and an already thinned group of demonic warriors.

I came in from their blind spot and together we managed to tear them apart.

And when I thought it was only a matter of time before the rest of the demonic horde would find us they shifted their attention to something else.

You, most likely."

Uriel stepped beside War and moved forward to go to work on the remains of dead angels armour.

"Do you want to know why his shield is in this sorry state?" she asked without taking her eyes of her work.

"Why?" War asked automatically as he scratched the uncomfortable and still open wound on his throat.

"He simply didn't move. He came to the rescue of one of the other groups, most of them dead by the time he arrived.

And when I got there the only other one that was hanging on for dear life was a simple soldier flat on the ground.

Saliel was standing right in front of him, absorbing every shot the demonic war machine was throwing at him, just for the hope that he would manage to bring at last

this one soldier out of there alive."

Uriel grimaced as she worked the crystals inside the armour into the right position.

"But by the time I had taken care of the machine even that soldier's body dissolved as his life spirit left him and the only thing left to do was bringing Saliel back here,

even as his armour was still smoking from the hits he had taken.

And when it became clear that I was unable to save him or the other two at the same time, he simply let go."

Uriel managed to activate the crystal she had been working on and after a short moment the energy inside began to activate and spread from inside the armour to all

over.

In a matter of moments the dead angel was engulfed by pure light as the matter that made up his body and armour dissolved into nothing.

Uriel stood up and faced War, now with open anger in her eyes.

"We angels are trained from birth, even the youngest learn to wield a sword with excellence and even a child that didn't reach one hundred years yet knows that law

and order are the first and foremost we have to follow."

He knew exactly where her anger was coming from and played along.

"If he would have moved away from the other soldier he could have managed to avoid lethal injury and gotten out of there alive." He pointed out what she wanted to

hear.

"Ready to fight another day and continuing to be an asset to the white city and thereby helping to protect it from harm in the future instead of throwing away his life."

Uriel nodded in agreement, at last someone that was able to follow her line of thought.

"He let his emotions guide him." She said. "Of course he tried to do the right thing, but in the end it only ensured his own downfall. I have seen this exact thing one

too many times too often."

Uriel let out a deep breath and lowered her eyes in thought.

For some odd reason War felt like speaking his mind.

"Your kind is cursed with something that few neck deep in war and slaughter can handle."

Uriel looked up again, her face a mixture of anger and wariness.

After all, the Horseman was still her sworn enemy.

"A good heart can be a curse in dark times."

They weren't his words, but they were fitting enough.

"A _good heart_ was what was got Saliel killed for nothing." Uriel pointed out with steel in her voice ignoring how awfully close she was to the horseman.

War let her, he had had similar experiences in his eons long live and no doubt so had she.

Powerlessness, seeing others around you falter and die while you yourself still stood on two feet.

It was easy for this feeling to turn to anger at the perceived injustice.

This was why the first kingdom had its very own paradox.

On one side stood strict laws and discipline that many of their elders pushed as the highest order to adhere to.

On the other side stood the nearly instinctive need to do the right thing.

Threatening civilians was a sure way to get an angel to jump at the call while demons only scratched their belly or even tried to use this knowledge to their advantage.

Even the Archangel Abbadon had tried to start the endwar early he had done so with good intentions, but in the end it had only brought forth his own downfall.

Still, for the most part the angelic race managed to pull it off.

Trough sheer willpower and discipline they put on a mask and followed their code.

Something that War at least could respect.

But right about now it seemed that Uriels mask was starting to crack as she eyed him up with uncertainty and new burning anger.

Who could blame her? War knew how hard it was too loose warriors under ones command again and again.

Their work together had kept her anger at bay, but with every passing moment it returned with force.

It might have been the reason why she had stepped out of this very room to face him to begin with.

And now he had even refused to properly finish the fight, which meant that she would soon…

"You and that maker killed nearly one hundred of my men in front of the grievers layer, without counting the ones you have slain by yourself since then." Uriel said

bitterly.

"You and your men attacked us first, and so did others since then." He pointed out blankly.

"Why would you care about simply two of them now? You must have slaughtered hundreds of angels before!"

She raised her voice slightly and her suspicion only grew as she tried to make out an enemy she could actually fight.

War knew that the most obvious way of solving her problem was by going trough him.

But that would not silence the demons that were tearing her apart inside her mind.

He had tried a similar way before.

"You simply did what you wanted to do right?" Uriel asked fierce as she called her sword into her hand with a lighting flash.

"You said you wanted to make sure my men survived, for whatever reason it truly was, which I appreciate… but I think there was a fight we need to finish!"

She moved her sword to the side and aimed at his throat, ready for a stab forward.

War moved his head slightly and eyed her up, it would not be all too difficult to deflect her first attack and close his iron fist around her neck in a matter of seconds.

Which either meant she was going for a feint or she simply didn't care.

War suspected the later.

Which was why he simply locked eyes with her and stared her down.

A duel which neither of them wanted to lose either.

"I won't fight you Uriel." He finally simply pointed out.

Her blade struck forward not even a second later, only to be caught in a grip by his iron fist.

"You would have had a better chance at killing me if you had gone for my legs first." He pointed out dryly.

War only managed to catch her swift left hook after the fact that it had soundly contacted with his cheekbone.

He bit his teeth and ignored the pain as best as he could.

"Don't tell me how to fight my battles," Uriel hissed in anger. "don't tell me I am…"

"Not thinking straight? Yes you are." War stated as boldly as Strife usually did while slowly twisting the blade out of her hand and keeping her other hand tightly in his

grip.

Uriel stared at him, torn between trying to attack him again and actually trying to understand what he had said, so War took the opening.

"My death is not going to silence the demons in your head Uriel.

Trust me, I made the mistake you are about to make before.

I paid with a part of my arm for that."

When the anger in her eyes diminished only by a fraction he released her arm and took the sword gently out of her hands.

With a quick move he changed the direction of the blade and gave it back to her hilt first.

When she took it he stepped back towards a massive armchair by the window, put the damaged golden artificial wings on it careful on a nearby table and moved the

chair back with him.

When the Horseman sat down a few meters away the anger in Uriels eyes had mostly been replaced by confusion and simple tiredness.

"I don't understand… you are _War,_ the Horseman himself, why don't you fight?" she asked perplexed and maybe even a tad bit sadness.

War only waved her to sit down and the angel felt no need to protest as she settled down on the couch Saliels body had occupied a few moments before, which now

seemed even cleaner than when she had first found it.

"Honestly I am just tiered." War admitted bluntly.

"And look at use, neither of use is even close to being ready for a fight. Or at last a good fight."

He found no word of protest from Uriel, even she couldn't hide several holes in her armour or her own exhaustion.

"I have seen you fight. You deserve better than to die in the back alley of ruined human city." War said.

"Especially not when you have your own soldiers to look after."

"I have my orders. The come directly from the heavenly council." Uriel pointed out.

"A assembly that hunts me and my siblings under orders of the charred council, which's accountability should be called into question. You were there on top of the

black throne, you saw how traitorous the Watcher was.

You even intervened."

Uriel lowered her gaze, she had acted without thinking back then, trying to do what seemed right.

An impulse that had shattered the seventh seal and brought the apocalypse with it.

One more reason for why she was no better than Saliel.

She shook her head, she was not going to dwell on this once more.

Not right now.

"The Archangels won't care." Uriel tried to justify her orders one one last time.

"They won't know you ever fought me if you just senselessly die here either." War countered.

Uriel blinked, the current idleness weighing down on her more than countless battles.

War pointed to the wounded soldiers behind her.

"You said you saw someone die to a similar poisoned bullet wound before. Care to tell me how?"

This time the memories came back to Uriel with force, and there was no way of stopping them so easily.

She let out a heavy sigh and put both hands on her head while trying to remain calm.

For a while nothing changed while Uriel tried to gather her thoughts, and War let her.

At last she was not trying to kill him anymore.

After only a few moments Uriel sat up straight and cleared her throat.

"I and a few others were coming to the rescue of a scouting party that had run into a trap in the middle of a human city early in the time after Abbadons fall." She

began while looking past the nephilim warrior in front of her and recalling fragments of her memory in her mind.

"They had tried to take the initiative and decided to attack when they saw a group of surviving humans being herded into one of the demonic camps.

Obviously it turned out to be a trap, and they had fallen to it.

Abbadon had given out the order to ignore the humans from the start and I repeated it after he fell, but what gave them reason to ignore it, in the end it was what

cost them their lives."

Uriel locked eyes with the horseman for a brief moment, his expression as unreadable as ever.

"When we arrived only a few of them were left alive, pinned down by enemy fire. And when we moved in the fire only increased.

I took five of my men and we stormed the lines were the demons had set up their heavier guns while the rest of the soldiers I had with me carried the wounded away.

The attack was nearly suicidal but we made it work beside the casualties when one of the soldiers by my side used on of the heavier set up cannons against their

owners.

He paid for his courage with his life when he made himself a priority target this way, but at last I and one other soldier managed to break off from the fight and get

away.

At last that was what I thought at first.

We made it halfway to our then current hideout when the pain forced him to land.

I tried to help him and signalled our position for the healers as soon as I noticed that one of the poisoned bullets had struck trough his armour into his side and was

eating away at him.

I tried every trick in the book to save him, but the infestation had already taken root too deeply and his own life-force was beginning to crumble under the onslaught.

I transferred what I had left of mine to him but it only slowed the process of how fast his body was turning into charred coal by a few minutes.

Probably the worst part was that he was trying to remain strong.

He even joked that the sun was far too bright and hopeful to let him die on a day like this.

With every passing moment the pain in his chest grew stronger as the infection ate away at him, even as he tried to hide it.

He said the healers would come, they would be here in time, and that they had dealt with worse before. In the matter of a few days he would be back on his feet and

able to fight again.

Sometimes I still wonder who of us he was trying to put at ease with his words.

When the infection finally spread fully to his chest and near his heart it grew more difficult for him to remain calm as the pain caused him to scream and slur his words.

And like the demonic infestation it was it spared some of his most vital organs and moved past them towards his throat and his head.

After all, it had been designed for a slow and agonizing death to serve as a reminder to every witness exactly whom they were fighting against."

Once more Uriel looked up, only for War to give a small encouraging nod.

"Needless to say, he died.

I could sense how he was trying to let go by himself, but when the infection spread to his throat he began to struggle for air and his eyes looked at me in panic.

So I did what he could no longer properly do himself and drove my blade trough his heart."

When Uriel locked eyes with War again she didn't flinch away this time.

"Two minutes later the healers arrived. It turned out that almost all of the ones that we had tried to rescue had died of similar wounds.

The survivors said that the demons had tested their bullets on human targets, annihilating them in a matter of a few dozen seconds and turning their bodies into

husks.

One member of the scout team was unable to sit idle by and attacked. His comrades in turn hadn't wanted to leave him behind.

We lost more than twenty soldiers that day for nothing."

Uriel stumbled in her speech for a fraction of a moment.

"…And that was only one day of many." She finally added.

This time it was War who didn't look her in the eyes.

Uriel shook her head.

She sounded pathetic.

The horseman had lived millennia's longer than she did, he probably had experienced many more moments like this and worse.

Just when he was about to speak he noticed the fresh blood trail on Uriels right hand that emerged from under her armor.

"You bandaged those wounds yourself." He pointed out.

She didn't understand what he was trying to say at first but when she followed his gaze she only snarled at the blood.

"Of course, I did it myself, Sariel was rather occupied with being dead and all." Once more she lashed out in anger as she removed parts of the armour from her upper

arm.

Her anger retreated quickly this time, but not her wariness.

She tried to lean away from War as she inspected the wound that a lighting spear had caused after piercing her armour but the warrior spotted the problem either

way.

That and the fact that her entire upper arm seemed to be covered in tiny silver-white markings.

"You won't be able to properly reach there on your own." He pointed out as she tried to inspect the back of her upper arm.

She shot him a cold look when she understood what he was trying to point out.

"Says the man that still has an open throat." She shot back and pointed at the wound below his chin that she had caused herself.

It didn't look like War was practically concerned about how one could nearly look inside his throat from a specific angle.

After a short moment of thought War grabbed the angelic sidearm from his belt that nearly looked like a dagger in his hands and swung it from left to right.

"You might not like this idea, but I still have some tiny bit of power left. If we hurry and work together we might be able to deal with our wounds _if_ we help each other

for once." He suggested openly.

"You tried to kill me before, why in the creators name should I trust you now? Why would _you_ trust _me_?" Uriel asked perplexed.

"You were the one who wanted me dead, remember? I could have killed you the first time in front of the griever's layer." He pointed out.

"I have killed many souls like you before and there might be a time when you are going to share their fate, but this is not here and not now. You know this as well."

Uriel squinted. "I was not at full capacity when we met back then." She made clear.

"And neither of us is right now." War added on with a small nod.

"The point is, in this very instance we can help each other for once. It will take until morning before our life-force has regenerated to some extent. Until then I think you

would find more comfort if you wouldn't bleed all over and I would certainly feel better if I wouldn't be able to directly breathe through my throat."

Uriel eyed the warrior up and down. She was considering that he was lying and setting a trap, but then again it was War that was reaching out to put the sword in her

hand, not some demon or his brother Strife.

"You go first." He stated.

She only hesitated for a moment before she reached for the angelic short-sword.

War engulfed its blade in fire before Uriel took it and stood up to lean towards War, moving the weapon ever closer to his throat.

The horseman moved his chin up and leaned to the side so that he could still look at Uriels face while she was inching the blade ever closer to the wound.

She risked a quick look at his face when she connected the edge of the sword with the wound.

It seemed like he didn't react to the pain at all, only one of his eyes twitched as she moved a tad bit closer.

For a moment she didn't move but locked eyes with War.

It would be all too easy to sever his head from his neck right at this very moment.

The blade would burn its way through his flesh with ease, even more so now that his life-force was threatening low right this very instant.

"If you want to kill me, here is your chance." War said flatly without breaking eye contact.

He only let out a quiet hiss when the blade burned deeper into his skin as Uriel moved the edge to cover the wound completely.

When she felt the bones under his skin and the Horseman blinked in irritation at the increasing pain she let up.

Uriel looked at the wound were the heated up weapon had burned flesh together before she decide that her work was done well enough and stepped back from War.

"I wouldn't make any sudden moves if I was you or the wound might easily open again." She advised him and he nodded slowly in return.

He coughed when he tried to take a deep breath for the first time, but by the second try he had already accustomed himself well enough.

"Thanks, at last that has been taken care of." War said and straightened himself.

"So, you trust me well enough to put a sword to your throat?" Uriel asked unsure of what just had happened.

"You are soldier, not a murder, if I remember correctly." War stated bluntly.

"There are many souls in creation who manage to be both." Uriel shot back.

"Then they are not very good at being a soldier." He answered just as certain as before.

Uriel felt like this could go down a whole different path into an entire new argument concerning the issue of how the phenomenon of war had changed over the

millennia's.

But seeing how the Horseman was still wielding an ancient blade where ever he went when guns and energy weapons were widespread in all of creation it seemed to

her that it was quiet apparent on which side of the argument he would stand.

Uriel turned the sword and moved it hilt first towards War, but when he reached for it she took it back by a few inches.

"One condition." She stated, at which War only moved his head slightly, indicating that he was listening.

"When you are done with my arm I want to know who exactly you lost that taking care of my wounded was such a high priority to you." War only nodded curtly in

response.

He moved over, sat down to her right side and carefully removed the failing bandages on her arm with his healthy hand, is artificial one much too unwieldy to be of

great help with such a task.

When he was done he inspected the wound the energy spear had caused, or rather the pieces of armour that had cut into the flesh with the force of its impact.

He also finally managed to make out what the white markings that covered her entire arm were, they were words written in the angelic language.

"You're dead?" he asked as he recognized the words as names.

 _Zaliel, Imarel, Yennael…_

"My dead." She admitted sorrowfully.

 _Haamiah_ _, Jemasel, Askael…_

All soldiers that had given their live under Uriels command.

With the small size with which the names had been tattooed on her arm and how they didn't stop in either direction, towards her _or_ her lower arm, one could only

estimate that the angelic commander had engraved a few hundred names on her entire arm alone.

"The wound has distorted quite a few of the names." He pointed out.

"And closing the wound might damage a few of them even further."

As he examined her arm he could see that several similar wounds had left their own white wounds on her arm as well.

Uriel nodded in approval either way.

"As long as most of the rest remain I should be able to remember their names and find someone who puts them back on."

War nodded as well before he used his gauntlet to carefully remove the armour pieces from the wound and his artificial hand to hold the rest of her arm in place with

force.

The angel had turned her face away so War could only notice her pain with the slightest of tremors that shook her arm whenever he removed one of the bigger pieces

from her flesh.

When the last armour shard was removed the wound began to bleed even worse, so he quickly took the angelic sidearm in his normal hand and channelled energy

into it.

The wound was bigger than Wars had been and so he needed to torch her flesh five times with the tip of the blade while trying to prevent any further damage to the

names of the fallen as far as he could.

Much like War before the angel took most of the pain in stride, only the ever so slight tremble showed that she was made of flesh and not of steel after all.

When he was done War released the angels arm and put the blade aside before removing his red hood and casually ripping a large part of the red fabric of and using

it to bandage her arm properly.

"What are you doing?" Uriel asked uncertainly.

"If this wound should reopen somehow again your enemies might not be able to tell immediately." He said with the faintest of smiles.

"So is that why you wear mostly red?" she asked while holding back a small chuckle.

"Actually it is so that my enemy's can't easily tell how many of _them_ I already killed." War said with not the slightest hint of exaggeration in his voice.

Uriel looked directly at War, his white hair now falling openly on his shoulders.

For a moment there was silence between the two fighters.

"It seemed like a good idea at the start of the war, shortly after Abbadon fell." Uriel suddenly began to retell.

"After the first too many times we lost another good soldier in battle I asked one of the men under my command if he could tattoo the name of the soldier that had

fought and died by my side in this battle on my arm.

The first name was _Manuel_. Then came others."

War waited to let her continue, it was obviously something that she needed to share with someone.

Even if that someone was her sworn enemy.

"Every few months I singled out the name of another soldier that had been lost under my command.

The one that died from that bullet I told you about was _Asalio_.

 _Simon_ died from an unlucky human tank shell directly to the face when he had just tried to protect them.

 _Elemiah_ died when she guided her gunship into the path of an airborne demonic war machine to give the rest of her crew time to escape."

"You remember them well." War pointed out.

"As time goes on I have more and more trouble remembering their faces." Uriel admitted sorrowfully.

"But I try to remember their names, and their stories.

Maybe I will manage to find the remaining families of a few of them when all of this is over and maybe I will be able to tell their stories.

 _If_ this war even has any survivors, that is.

Until then their names serve as a reminder to try and keep the ones I have left under my watch alive."

With every passing word Wars eyes had grown more different, but only now the angel could make out that they had a tint of caution and even sorrow in them.

"I have seen firsthand that grief can be like poison to a soul." Uriel tried to disperse the horseman's obvious doubts.

"Some of my best soldiers died to it. I do not want to redo their mistakes."

War nodded carefully.

"I have seen strong souls fall to it before." He simply stated before the warrior stood up and returned to his own massive seat.

Uriel avoided his eyes for a moment and noticed how his artificial hand had been closed into a fist as he had sat down.

"Are you still standing by your word?" she asked.

War only looked at her, his face as unreadable as it had been before.

"Who are the dead that made you so concerned about mine?" she repeated her question from before one more time.

If they weren't going to fight she at last wanted to understand why.

For a moment it seemed like War was simply going to ignore her until she noticed that he was looking straight through her, at something only he could see.

He blinked and the moment was gone.

"During the time of the Nephilim rampages I used to have a small but well trained group of warriors under my command.

I lead them to many great victories on many great worlds but in that time also many of them fell while fighting by my side."

War paused and for a few seconds Uriel thought that was all he was going to tell her.

Until he continued once more, his voice only slightly hesitant.

"Their deaths were a blow at first, but in the end they were tolerable. After all, most of them had fought and died as warriors. But it was at the battle at eden were I

killed at last half of them all by myself with this very same blade that made me wary."

The Nephilim nodded towards Chaoseater, which was still sticking in the ground a few meters away from them.

Like only now noticing the warrior stood up and tore his weapon out of the ground and he wordlessly walked back to his seat, put the weapon down beside it and sat

back down.

He took another short moment before he continued again.

"Heaven and Hells mages had put the entirety of Eden under lockdown when our brethren had fully entered the realm, none of them were able to escape.

We fought in the shadows of the twin trees and in a matter of many days we slaughtered what once had been the Nephilim race with the armies of hell and heaven by

our side and with the powers that the charred council had bestowed upon us in their midst.

When I was done I was surrounded by fallen brethren, and by many of the very same warriors that I had once led into battle.

When the slaughter came to an end and I came to fully realize what I had done I wished I would have died with them that day.

And sometimes I still think it would have only been right.

After all, we had been sent to destroy the Nephilim race."

War hadn't looked the angel in the eyes once since he had started talking and when he fell silent he didn't do so either.

Even now when he sighed heavily and finally rose to meet her eye, he only looked straight through her while talking.

Only later Uriel considered that it might have been because her thoughts were written quiet clearly on her face at that very moment.

"My people were once proud warriors, but the recklessness of their leaders and their own hunger for power was what destroyed them in the end and brought my own

sword down on their necks.

It was their choice, their decision to oppose the charred council and fight against both, heaven and hell.

I fought and I won, fair and square.

They are dead and I am still on my feet."

Uriels expression of compassionate sorrow hadn't waned when Wars eyes finally focused on her.

"What I and my brethren did was needed and right.

Still, sometimes I think that I should have been able do more than just use my sword.

When I fought you and saw those two." he said with a nod to the wounded angels.

"I saw an opportunity to do so by simply not using it."

As War fell silent the silence spread and for a long moment neither of them uttered a word.

Just when Uriel was finally about to speak up War cut her off.

"You fight with Honour and for your cause, I respect that." He stated.

"But I am a warrior. I live to fight what is in front of me.

You are a soldier. You live to protect what stands behind you."

Uriel shot a side glance at her wounded comrades behind her back and War nodded.

"If I would have killed you here and now, it would also have meant their death.

It would have meant that you would have failed in your duty to protect them, and would have meant you would die in shame.

I don't want to be the one that condemns you to such a fate."

War paused shortly to make sure he got his next words right.

"I wasn't able to save the warriors under my command form themselves, and you won't ever be able to save the soldiers under yours to fall in their line of duty.

We both lived long enough to know that by now."

Once again he paused under Uriels watchful golden eyes.

"Things might have been different if they would have been healthy and able to fight by your side. And maybe our fight would have gone differently then, but things

have simply not been so.

And in the end I am glad I didn't kill you, at last for today."

Uriel eyed the Warrior up and down after he finished his sentence.

For a moment the tenseness in his body was gone and his piercing ice cold gaze had wandered of like he was remembering an ages old dream.

It was like she was sitting in front of a different man.

And when she thought he was just absorbed in his own thought he looked straight up and at her,

For once his face seemed open and truly thoughtful as he leaned forward and gave her a simply nod.

"I hope that answers your questions." He stated.

And like with the flip of a switch his eyes grew ever so slightly colder and his posture returned to its usual tenseness like it had been before

Uriel couldn't shake the feeling that she had been granted just one quick look behind the Warriors defences and seen that he was just as much a being like any other.

She gave War a small nod of respect as he leaned back.

At last he had been honest to her.

The angel drove a hand trough her white hair and observed the Horseman, who had grabbed Chaoseater and started to scrap of dried on blood and dirt with his

artificial hand.

Just as he had said he was a warrior trough and trough, the way he spoke acted and carried himself alone demanded respect and his fighting skills with the sword

were only rivalled by a handful of beings in all of creation.

Still, the angel could now feel that there was far more going on hidden behind his almost unmoving face and his thick armour.

He was a man of honour and the blade, but he had also lived more than long enough to be far more than that, even thought this aspect of him seemed to be hidden

behind a armour far thicker than the one he was wearing right now.

Uriel couldn't help but wonder if he ever put it off.

Would at last his siblings allow him to be more than just that warrior?

After the angel had observed the horseman in his work for a while she stood up and carried her own golden wings from the table War had put them on to the couch.

For a long time there was nothing but busy silence as Uriel tried to fix parts of the wings with the equipment she had at hand and War methodically cleaned

Chaoseater.

The Horseman seemed to be fully absorbed in his work whenever Uriel looked up from her own.

His metal hand scraped over the blade and rid it of all kinds of filth.

Even thought Uriel was sure that there would have been a better way to clean his weapon, like using his fire to burn away the most of it, it seemed like the Horseman

was enjoying the work itself.

The sound of his artificial hand grew to be a calming constant.

It was after the first time Uriel had nearly dozed off still leaning over her work when she thought she knew what had meant.

" _It's more like a tool, nothing more."_

He had said in that thoughtful tone about his artificial hand after they were done with saving her soldiers lives.

Now that it was constantly scrapping over cold steel directly in front of her without ever stopping she was reminded of how often the same limb had blocked her

mightiest attacks so many times and she finally understood.

It was nothing more than a tool, a powerful shield, a dangerous weapon, but nothing more.

By the virtue of being used as a shield it was almost obvious that he was properly able to feel almost nothing from it.

Obviously the arm made him only a better warrior, but the way he had called just a tool before made Uriel wonder.

How many eons could one being go before it wished it had never lost that other hand and its touch?

Wherever it was because she had stopped her own work or because he had finally finished his, the Horseman put Chaoseater down.

"You should try to get some sleep." He stated. "There are still more than half a dozen hours left before the sun rises. You might need some rest, I take first watch."

Uriel reeled back from another sleep attack had managed to sneak up on her and tried to blink the tiredness away.

"No worries, I am alright, usually if get past the point..." War didn't even let her finish her sentence.

"As the Charred Council itself can attest, I and my siblings are independent right now. If I might need some rest I am just going to take it.

You and your kind on the other hand have a war of your own to fight, and I doubt there is much time to spare. The white city might call on you to take command of the

hellguard again as soon as you are back.

Heed my advice Uriel. Take a rest."

Uriel blinked again and rubbed her eyes, but she could feel that it wasn't going to help much.

In their current condition, with all those wounds and so low on lifeforce, they both were awfully close to the terrible short endurance of a simple human.

Sleep had always been more of a luxury than normality, but now it seemed unavoidable if she didn't want to arrive in front of the hellguard in the same bad shape as

she was right now.

She sighed and put the halfway repaired wings aside.

"I guess you are right." She admitted with tired eyes.

"Wake me when you need to rest yourself, I should only need one hour until I can hold my eyes open again." She said as she hesitantly pulled her feet on the couch

and awkwardly tried to make herself comfortable.

Going to sleep in front of the same horseman that had fought her several times before was not something she was used to.

She looked at the Warrior one more time.

"Thank you War." she said softly with only a small ounce of hesitation in her voice.

He looked up from his weapon and straight at her, his eyes strangely soft even as his face remained a mask.

"For everything." She added on. "You did far more than help me keep my soldiers alive."

War shook his head slightly.

"I am certain you would have done the same if the places had been reversed. There is no honour in fighting if your enemy is in just as bad shape as you are." He

pointed out.

"You owe me nothing, and there is nothing to thank for.

And I would hate if you thought you were in my debt."

Uriel nodded, she understood.

One day they would fight again, and if that time came he didn't want her to hold back because of what had happened here.

As far as the angelic council was concerned the Horseman has still gone rouge and the charred council demanded their capture or execution.

"Then I say thank you in the name of my soldier. They certainly owe you their lives, and you own my respect for helping me." She carefully tried to work around his

code of honour.

War paused for a moment and thought about it, but then he gave in.

"I can accept this much, Uriel of the Hellguard. And I am going to hope that I won't be the one that causes their demise in the future."

He looked back down at Chaoseater and continued his cleaning work.

"You should really try to find some sleep now.

The end war is still not over, and it won't be for the longest time."

War concentrated on his work while also trying to be as quiet about it as possible.

He didn't look up, but he could make out when the angel gave in to her own exhaustion and finally closed her eyes before she at last tried to rest on the couch.

For a while War did nothing else other than focus on Chaoseater and his work

It didn't take long until he could hear the angel's soft and regular breath.

He looked up once and saw that she was sleeping on her side, her hands close to her chest, taking up as little space as she could, a soldier indeed.

Wordless and with the same stoic expression as before he continued his work.

For the longest time War was busy with his work, but by the time Chaoseater was mostly clean from all the dirt and blood of the battlefield and he was about to put it

aside he noticed that something was not right.

He looked up and saw the angel's arms moving, her hands grabbing something that wasn't there, her legs moving slightly and her eyes shooting from one place to

another from under her eyelids.

War didn't need a second look to understand that she was fighting nightmares.

And when Uriels movements didn't case he stood up and walked over to her.

He kneeled down beside her and scoped up her blade that had fallen in front of the couch, without doubting his intuition he put the hilt of her sword in her hands and

her fingers closed around it in expectation.

It took a while, but her movement began to slow and finally stopped once her mind had accustomed to the presence of her familiar feeling of the sword.

In those one hundred years on earth she probably had similarly to this.

Always on guard, always on edge, always ready to strike in case the demons attacked at night.

War used his gauntlet to carefully pull back a strand of hair that had fallen on her face during her nightmare and watched as her eyes began to calm again until she

finally came to rest again.

As he looked at her like this he noticed that nothing in her sleep was relaxed, despite overcoming her nightmare.

Her face and her entire body seemed tense, ready to jump up and fight at a moment's notice.

Always ready to fight, just like he himself.

One of these days, in the not so far future either of them would have to kill the other, he was sure of it.

There would be no excuses then and if he was lucky she would give him a good fight.

But until then she needed to rest properly.

And so he stood up and walked to the windows.

* * *

When Uriel woke up the next day she immediately jumped up and threw the makeshift blankets away as her mind was flooded with telepathic messages.

As she methodically filtered the messages she walked over to one of the windows that was missing its curtains and looked outside.

The sight of a massive angelic cruiser that was entering the earth realm trough a just as massive portal while also setting out swarms of gunboats and airborne

infantry immediately lifted her spirits.

Just as much did the telepathic messages which were largely from a dozen different groups of other surviving soldiers that had cast of the magic that had hid them and

were now openly calling out for their brothers.

Uriel was about to do the same when she remembered who has been with her the last night and took a cautious look around.

There was no sign of the horseman anywhere. If he truly had held guard until this morning, despite what she had said, he probably had noticed the arrival of the first

scouts and prepared to leave then.

Still she checked again for any unseen aura in proximity and noticed one that did its best to hide itself in the streets down below and out of sight of the angelic ship.

Hastily she walked over to another window and threw the curtains open.

A portal ruptured the real space in one of the side streets and she could only make out the Horseman as he approached it while riding on Ruin.

As if he had noticed her presence War turned around halfway and simply nodded in her direction.

She answered with one of her own, even though he most certainly wasn't able to see it.

Without another pause he directed Ruin forward and soon he vanished into the portal.

The horseman had never been one for long words.

When Uriel turned back to the room again she dismissed the defensive magic with a simple hand move and was nearly immediately greeted by a direct telepathic

contact.

"Lieutenant Uriel! Blessed be the creator, we thought we lost you!" one of the higher ranking officers onboard the very angelic cruiser rejoiced.

"You nearly did. But I plan on staying alive for a little while longer." She talked her message out loud while also sending it before she turned around and checked on

her wounded.

To her great relief both of them were still alive and in far better condition than last night.

"But I need immediate extraction for two of our brethren, can that be arranged?" she asked straight forward.

"I am sending a squadron to your location right now Lieutenant. They should be on your position in a few minutes." The officer answered.

"And if I may," he added on.

"Archangel Michael has stationed the Hellguard in Bastion Secundus while you were gone. He ordered their rearm and resupply for another mission, they will certainly

need your leadership again very soon."

"I expected nothing less. Thank you for the information officer." Uriel answered.

"Squadron Delta is on its way, good recovery to your wounded Lieutenant." The officer added on before he cut of the connection and focused on other matters.

Uriel looked around the room and her gaze got stuck on Wars chair and the couch she had slept on.

She couldn't help but smile a tad bit.

So the Horseman was not a simple block of iron after all.

She turned around and looked out of the window as the angelic squadrons descended upon the ruined human city and brought back other surviving hellguard

members while the angelic cruiser was glistening in the morning sun.

This day, and this fight were far from over, that much was for sure.

But right now she could bring soldiers back home and look forward to another fight against the spawns of hell.

Uriel let out a sigh of relief. At last in the end things had turned out for the better.

As for War, most certainly they would meet each other again on the battlefield.

For better or for worse.

* * *

 **Author Note:**

 _Finally finished this. As you can see, you should probably not belief me when I write "a few weeks" and "short"._

 _I think I could have done better, and give both characters more justice, but in the end I am just happy I finally managed to finish something again._

 _Going to proofread this later since, if I did it now, I would realize just how I could have done better and modify it for another few months, only to then realize that this version_

 _was perfectly fine. Ofcourse its not "perfectly" fine, but you might get what I mean.  
_

 _I will go to concentrate on the next chapter to "Human Realm" for now._

 _Hopefully THQnordic will do Fury justice in Darksiders 3._

 _If you think you found something to be really stupid/crazy in this story feel free to contact me, I will probably listen to it as long as I can understand it._

 _Whatever, I hope you liked it either way._


End file.
